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Owen-Withee wins a statistical anomaly

If you were to look at the end-game stat sheet without knowing the final score, you may have though Owen-Withee was blown out in its Division 5 state semi-final against Newman Catholic. The Blackhawks turned the ball over 35 times and took 33 less shots than the Fighting Cardinals.

However, Owen-Withee was efficient shooting the ball, connecting on 45.7% of their attempts overall, and harassed Newman into making just 18 of 79 shots (22.8%) to hold on late for a 49-46 victory.

Owen-Withee used a 63.6% shooting performance in the first half to build a 32-21 lead at halftime. Junior forward Aleyna Goerlitz was the story early on, scoring 17 points and pulling down 8 rebounds before the break. Included in that were three three-point plays.

Newman Catholic, who won the Division 4 state title two years ago and the inaugural D5 crown last year, struggled mightily, missing multiple easy shots inside to finish the half just 8 of 35. Senior Sarah Connolly, a WBCA All-State pick, was just 4 of 17.

Newman's press began to get to Owen-Withee in the second half, and the team made several runs to cut the lead to 9 points. The Blackhawks hurt themselves by turning the ball over 20 times after the break. Newman was also able to take advantage of Owen-Withee's lack of size (no player on the roster is listed over 5-8) and pulled down 14 offensive rebounds in the second half.

The lead for head coach Al Guthman, the state's winningest girls coach with a career 629-290 record, and the Blackhawks was just 3 points heading into the fourth quarter. Newman proved its mettle by continuing to battle, eventually taking its first lead of the game with 4:43 left in the fourth quarter on a layup by Maddie Tubbs. They went up by three points on a Connolly jumper, but that proved to be the high-water mark for the Cardinals.

Owen-Withee scored the game's next seven points and after Newman closed with one under a minute to play, scored the game's final points on a Alyssa Gordon layup with 46 seconds left.

Newman had several shots at the end to try to tie it, but as was the story all day, was not able to convert as Owen-Withee held on for the victory. Goerlitz led the way with 22 points and 12 rebounds for Owen-Withee, while Sarah Connolly was the high scorer for Newman with 15, albeit on 28 shots.

This is Owen-Withee's 8th state tournament appearance and the fourth time they've been in the finals, but they are still looking for that elusive state title, something they'll have a shot at Saturday morning at 11:05 am against Heritage Christian.

Box Score

Heritage Christian holds off a scrappy Seneca squad

Seneca came into the state semi-finals undefeated but was generally considered the underdog against Heritage Christian. The Patriots played a much more difficult schedule and possessed a level of athleticism the Indians had not seen this season.

Heritage did enough to claim a 50-41 victory over Seneca, but the scrappy Indians team did not make it easy.

Buoyed by a hot shooting start by junior Moriah Begin, Heritage Christian jumped out to a 22-8 lead as Seneca stayed packed inside. The Patriots placed great pressure on the Seneca ballhandlers and harassed the Indians into shooting just 3 of 16 at halftime as Heritage led 30-15 at the break.

Heritage put it on cruise control in the third quarter and led 44-27 heading to the fourth quarter. Seneca stayed active though, and got the lead down to 10 points at the 1 minute mark. They didn't quite have enough to close it out however, and Heritage held on for the 50-41 win.

Before fouling out late in the game, Begin scored a game-high 15 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Ramiya Bennett added 14 for her father and head coach Terry Bennett. Senior Kalli Boland (14) and junior Logan Lessard (13) combined for 27 of Seneca's 41 points.

Box Score

The WIAA announced the Division 5 semi-final session attendance as 2,735 not counting suite sales.